As cold weather grips region, squeeze tightens on towns

Frank Julianoand Wes Duplantier

Updated 8:14 pm, Thursday, January 9, 2014

As southwest Connecticut emerges from the grip of the "polar vortex" sweeping across the country, most people are grateful for temperatures climbing toward the freezing mark. But area charities and emergency departments said this week that the bitter cold has meant more work for them, and that the workload won't let up even as the forecast improves.

The single-digit days and sub-zero nights over the past two weeks have caused many pipes to burst and furnaces to fail, but a safety net of municipal agencies and social services programs has helped residents stay dry, warm and safe.

The Bridgeport Health Department has responded to 40 "no heat" calls over the past few days, the vast majority of them caused by burst pipes, said William Kaempffer, a spokesman for the city's public safety departments. He also said firefighters responded to 60 calls about frozen or broken pipes between Dec. 30 and Jan. 7, when southwestern Connecticut was gripped by two separate cold snaps.

An inspector from the housing code enforcement unit is sent out to check the conditions in the home, Kaempffer said. "It may take a few hours or a day to get someone out there because there is a backlog, but we start working the phones right away.''

City officials start with calls to landlords and management companies. State law requires that a year-round temperature of 65 degrees be maintained in rental housing if the landlord is responsible for supplying heat. Even if the tenant is responsible for the heat, the landlord must maintain the furnace in good working order, according to a booklet issued by the state Judicial Department, which maintains a housing court branch.

The phone calls usually resolve the issue even before an inspector arrives, Kaempffer said, and 90 percent of the no-heat calls that came in during the cold snap are resolved or in process, he said.

And the cold has taken a toll on Bridgeport's charities as well as its first responders. Rev. Terry Wilcox, the executive director of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, said the group has been operating in "code blue" mode during the recent frigid weather, increasing the capacity at its shelters, bringing out extra sleeping mats and allowing people to keep warm by staying in the shelters during the day, when they are normally emptied for cleaning.

In addition, Wilcox said the group has had to make several repairs to one of its buildings, at 850 Fairfield Ave., where the furnace stopped working and the pipes froze.

He said that only a few people are sheltered there and the group was able to keep those people warm, but it was another big expense for the group, which is already looking at higher heating bills and food costs as it works to keep people warm.

In Fairfield, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Tracy said that his department prepares for a range of different calls when a deep freeze sets in and people go to extra lengths to stay warm. Those calls can include everything from issues with black ice to frozen pipes to improper use of personal heaters, but he said that firefighters are ready for the calls and that they routinely put out safety tips to help prevent those problems.

But he said that weather-related issues will persist, even when temperatures start to creep up, as they are now. As pipes warm up, leaks begin and that can put out pilot lights or cause problems with electrical boxes.

"Where we are right now is waiting for a thaw," he said Wednesday night. "We'll probably get a flurry of calls from people concerned about hazards."

Scott Pelletier, the Oxford fire chief, said there has been only one call for a burst pipe in town. "We're fortunate in Oxford that there are not a lot of homeless, but we do have some elderly residents who might be reluctant to turn up the thermostat. We keep the Senior Center open for them, and if the need arises we can open a no-freeze shelter in one of the schools or in Town Hall.''

A Milford family who had been away during the last few frigid days came back to find that the pipes in their home had burst, said Capt. Greg Carman, the fire department spokesman.

"That is the worst case we had, but we responded to a few other minor burst-pipe calls,'' Carman said. "The real problems are going to come in the next few days as temperatures rise and the pipes begin to thaw.''

Firefighters look for the main water shutoff in a home to "contain the damage'' from broken pipes, he said. "If it's a pipe in the walls that is broken, it's a lot harder.''

There haven't been many recent reports of fires caused by space heaters in area towns. Carman, the Milford fire department spokesman said, newer space heaters are safer than those in the past, and nearly all of them shut off automatically if they are tipped over.

"Kerosene heaters generally carry a warning that if you use them indoors you need to leave a window open to properly vent them, but that does seem to defeat the purpose.''

Paul Shipman, spokesman for the American Red Cross of Fairfield County, said that his agency provides emergency housing for those who are displaced, but burst pipes and broken furnaces are handled on the municipal level.